Lo que es mío, es tuyo
by silvermirror421
Summary: Farm AU: The Vargas family has just up and left their old town in Italy to go and live on a farm in rural Spain. Lovino Vargas absolutely hates the move, and would much rather be back at his old house. But when he and his brother discover an abandoned child named Antonio, his thoughts about the whole ordeal may change. Mainly Spamano with hints of GerIta
1. Reasons

CHAPTER 1: Reason

The sunny countryside whizzed past as Lovino Vargas sat in the back of his grandpa's old, beat-up truck. He watched the multitude of plantations as the drove on the bumpy dirt road, and with each farm they passed, the more Lovino hated the idea of ever living on one of the stupid things.

Of course, Lovino had nothing against farms, or animals. In fact, he was quite fond of the horses and cows that lived there, he always had. It was the fact that now, after living twelve years of his life in the nice little suburbs of a little town of Italy, he was forced to move with his Grandpa and twin brother Feliciano all the way to the backwater city of Galicia, Spain. He was forced to abandon the few close friends he had, forced to leave his school and education, and work on a farm for the entirety of his conscious childhood. That is what made the farms so incredibly stupid.

"Look Boys!" Lovino tore away from the scenery at his grandfather's exclamation. "There it is. Our very own ranch."

Feliciano practically jumped out of the car at these words, trying to get a better look at the exciting new home. Lovino only rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. But as the crunch of gravel under slow-moving tires became audible, his curiosity peaked, and Lovino just had to see the house.

It was a nice house, neither too big nor small. Its sky-blue walls seemed freshly painted, and its wooden porch was in good shape, with a small hammock of to the right side of it. Large swaths of orange trees shaded the house, giving it a quaint, peaceful feel.

The car rolled up, and as soon as the wheels stopped turning Feliciano was up and out of the car and already opening the wooden front door. Lovino grumbled, wondered how in the world his brother could be so energetic and childish sometimes, and slowly trudged out of the car. He walked around to the front of the vehicle, and started when his Grandpa clapped a giant hand on Lovino's scrawny little back.

"Why not bound on inside and take a look at the place, Lovi?" he asked, smiling.

Lovino grimaced, shrugged his shoulder, and replied with an acute "Whatever". Though he was curious, he wasn't about to let that stem his grudge against the move. His Grandpa frowned and just pushed Lovino forward.

"I'll deal with the movers and whatnot. You stop frowning. Be a bit like your brother for once!"

Lovino pasted a plastic smile on his face and started towards the front porch. As he walked up the porch steps, he heard the bounding of his brothers light footsteps as he ran to the door. Feliciano's face appeared in the doorway, his light auburn hair all-aflutter.

"Hey, Hey Lovi! Come check the place out its so cool! We each get our own room and everything, and the backyard is ginormous! Plus, there's a whole orange orchard in the back, and horses! Lovi there are pretty horses already here for us. " With each sentence, Feliciano's smile became impossibly larger, and it was slightly infectious. Lovino smirked a bit, and followed his brother inside.

"Horses did you say? Did you say hello without me? And did you take the best room so help me god you better not have you little turd!" Lovino laughed and rustled his brother's hair, and bounded through the house, searching for the way to the bedrooms. He soon came upon a small staircase in the back-left of the house, barked a victorious laugh, then bounded up the steps two at a time. He could hear his brother's laughed and call to wait up as he reached the top

"Come on you lazy slowpoke!" Lovino called out. Feliciano finally reached the top, just slightly out of breath, and laughed.

"Lovi you meanie you left me." Lovino smirked, turned around and walked down the hall, peeking inside the doors looking for _his_ room. The hallway stretched out for at least four rooms, bathrooms included, till at last Lovino reached the last door on the right. He opened it, and slowly walked inside.

The room was painted a soft green, with a darker green border across the top near the ceiling. The carpet was soft and beige colored, nice and simple. There was a single bed in the left hand corner, quilts draped over the end of the mattress. There was a deep mahogany colored vanity dresser in the right, and next to that was a window that had the perfect view of the farm and the stables outside. Lovino suddenly felt a rush of emotions, and sat down quickly on the bed. Feliciano walked into the room, and noticing the sadness on his brother's face, hopped onto the bed next to him.

"Why do you look sad, Lovi?" He poked Lovino's cheeks, hoping for a response. "Is it the room? Are you still upset about the move? Why?" Lovino simply looked down, not saying a word. Feliciano had a rush of understanding, and lightly hugged his brother. "Oh. It's mom right? You miss her? The room reminded you of her somehow right?" Feliciano felt his brother's head nod. "Don't worry Lovi, I'm sure mom's up in heaven, laughing at all the jokes with papa and eating a never-ending supply of pasta!" Lovino's chest shook with small fits of laughter. Feliciano let go, and gently moved to face Lovino. "I know the move sucks, and I know that we only did it because they die- because the left us. But this will be fun! I know it will! We have our own rooms, our own horses and everything! So come on, cheer up! "

Lovino gave a little laugh and nudged his brother's shoulder. He looked up rolled his eyes and jumped off the bed. "You optimistic weirdo. But yeah, you're right. Let's try to have some fun here."

* * *

~Hello, it is I, Silvermirror. Just wanted to say, if you are reading this, then thank you very much! It's my first real shot at writing a fan fiction so yeah it's gonna pretty much suck. But any and all reviews would be wonderful! Have a wonderful day/night and thank you once again!

Also its much longer when written down ^.^; eeh shooortness.

(Sorry for the ooc-ness in Lovi, he'll be himself in the next chapter hopefully ^.^)


	2. Discovery of the Lost

CHAPTER 2: Discovery of the lost

The two brothers, after having their little emotional uplifting moment, decided to go down and explore the orange grove out towards the backyard. The grove was enormous, especially compared to the height of the two, and they both thought that they could spend many hours simply walking through it. Which is basically what they did.

As they walked, they talked about meaningless things, like how blue the sky was, whether or not they thought that being homeschooled was a bad thing, or just pushing each other around and laughing, Lovino primarily using the latter to cheer himself up. At one point, the pushing and shoving turned into a race between the brothers to see who can push the other one down then run away as fast as they could. Lovino was quite skilled at pushing, but Feliciano was faster than his brother. So Lovino had to resort to dirty tactics.

"Look out Feli! It's a spider!" Lovino shouted out. Feliciano responded by flailing his arms around everywhere, shouting in fear of the small, nonexistent arachnid. Lovino laughed, stuck out his leg and tripped him. Feliciano fell to the dirt, still cowering from the spider, and Lovino laughed and sprinted away.

"I lied! There was no spider you gullible moron!" Lovino darted through the trees, making sharp turns and roundabouts to confuse his brother. It wasn't long before he lost him, and Lovino stopped and turned around in triumph. Walking backwards, he barked a laugh of victory to the air to tell Feliciano where he was, and then not realizing where he was going, Lovino tripped over what seemed to be a log and flopped to the ground on his butt. A small profanity escaped his mouth, as he sat up, rubbing his injured back. As he looked up he discovered that it was not a log that he had tripped over, but a sleeping child.

Lovino crawled forward, incredibly confused as to why there was an unknown person in his orchard, and lightly kicked the kid's bare foot. No response came from him, except for a small grumble of unhappiness. Lovino frowned, and stared at the kid in annoyance and curiosity. The kid had dark, messy brown hair that hung low over his closed eyes. His tanned chest was bare, uncovered by any shirt, and the only clothing that covered him was a tattered pair of brown capris pants. Surrounding him were orange peels. Lovino narrowed his eyes, realizing that this kid had stolen the oranges from the orchard, and then had the audacity to take a little siesta right underneath the crime scene. Lovino stood up, dusted himself off, then ever so carefully, arched his leg back then thrust it into the little thief's legs as hard as he could possibly could.

The kid woke up with a yelp, and sat there in wonderment cradling his injured knee. Lovino moved his leg again, poking the kid's foot with his own, scowling down at him.

"Hey, kid, what the hell are you doing eating my oranges?" The kid looked up, and Lovino noticed that they where a very dark shade of forest green, with little specks of gold flickered about. And then he noticed that the little shit was smiling at him. _Smiling! _The kid stood up, and to Lovino's dismay he stood a good four inches taller than him, brushed off his pants, and stuck out his hand. Then he spoke.

"Hello there! I am very sorry for eating your oranges, mister, but I don't think that there would be anyway for me to repay you, seeing as I have nothing at all. I don't think I would have if I did have anything, since you have just caused my knee pain. So I shall just leave you with an apology and run away!" And with that, the kid shoved Lovino, though not very hard, and sprinted off towards the left. Lovino started to chase after him, but then the kid fell, ever so gracefully, flat on his face. Lovino couldn't help but let out a small snort of laughter, then lightly jogged up to the fallen boy.

"Okay, I think seeing you fall right on your face is payment enough for stealing my oranges you idiot." Lovino said. The only response that came from the ground was a grunt. Lovino laughed once more, and watched as the kid roll onto his back slowly, with an amusing pout of sadness on his face.

"That hurt" The kid said, slowly sitting up and rubbing his face to get the dirt from it. He slowly stood up, and grinned sheepishly. "Well that escape plan did not go as well as I had planned. Darn"

"You think?" Lovino smirked. He held out his hand in greeting. "'Name's Lovino. And what would be the name of Mr. Orange thief?"

"I said I was sorry! And my name is Antonio. It's nice to meet you Lovi" Antonio stuck out his hand and very energetically shook Lovino's hand. Lovino was shaken, quite literally, by the strength at which he was greeted, and frowning pulled back his hand. There came a rustling in the bushes, and Antonio and Lovino looked to find Feliciano stumbling out of the trees.

"Lovi you left me again! You big meanie face, oh hello there! Hi who are you? Lovi did you find a friend, oh that's so great! Hello new friend I'm Lovi's brother Feliciano, you can just call me Feli. What's your name?" Without leaving room for breathing, as per the norm, Feliciano introduced himself, and flamboyantly shook Antonio's hand. Antonio, though slightly shocked, recovered quickly and shook back.

"Well hello Feli! I would be Antonio, or Toni for short. You seem very nice, unlike your 'big meanie face' of a brother. Does he always kick sleeping people?"

Feliciano gasped, and turned and glared at Lovino, who simply rolled his eyes. "Lovino! How dare you kick sleeping Toni! Apologize to him, that wasn't nice."

"He stole and ate our new fucking oranges, I wasn't going to let him off easily. Don't be so prissy." Lovino folded his arms around his chest and stared at the sky. Antonio laughed and nudged Feliciano.

"Is he always this grumpy? Or did he just wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Feliciano laughed.

"He is a grumpy fellow. Whenever he gets too grumpy, I try to give him my special 'Hug Therapy' but he doesn't really like it he just gets grumpier." Lovino jumped back at the words "Hug therapy" and emitted a noise that half sounded like a cat hissing, and half sounded like a dog yelping.

"No we are absolutely NOT doing your stupid hug therapy! It's not even therapy it's more like torture." Feliciano frowned, and slowly walked towards his brother, arms outstretched. Lovino started backing away, issuing a slur of swears towards Feliciano, who just walked forward faster with a huge smile on his face.

"Come on Lovi! It's hugs, everybody likes hugs! Don't walk away from the loving hugs that I am going to give you." Feliciano sung, and lunged out and grabbed onto his brothers shirt, yanking towards him. Lovino continued to struggle, only a few moments away from sincerely kicking his brother in the balls. Behind them Antonio watched with amusement at the two brothers, who were so incredibly different, yet looked exactly the same.

Lovino finally just accepted the stupid hug, and Feliciano bounded off with a happy little "Yay" back to Antonio.

"I am sincerely sorry you had to experience that attack on personal space, Antonio." Lovino said, brushing himself off and patting down his frizzled deep auburn hair. "For now, I think we have to go to our house now. It was," Lovino paused and searched for a word to adequately describe the experience, "vaguely interesting. I appreciate the amusement, don't steal our oranges again, and have a good day." And with that Lovino turned to walk towards the house.

"Where do you live, Toni? Oh gosh are you our neighbor? That would be so cool we could all be friends already." Feliciano asked, clearly not picking up Lovino's "It's time to leave" vibe. Antonio smiled brightly and said,

"Oh I don't live anywhere really. I normally sleep out here under the trees, but occasionally if it gets really cold out I'll go and sleep over by the horses down on the hill."

At these so casually said words Lovino stopped dead in his tracks. His brain wracked as he processed the information, trying to understand what just happened. _He doesn't have a home? _He thought, turning around.

"Well what about your parents? You certainly live with them right? You can't just not have a home that would be stupid." Lovino said, staring quizzically at Antonio, who just smiled sadly.

"My parents died around three years back. I've been living here basically on my own. I'm doing okay though so you don't have to worry! We can still be neighbors, if you guys want to." Antonio looked down at the ground, sheepishly as if he had done something wrong. Both Lovino and Feliciano stared gaping at him, Feliciano almost starting to cry at his tale. Then Lovino sparked an idea, and grabbed Antonio's arm and started dragging him down towards his house.

"No!" he said. "No we will not be neighbors."

Antonio and Feliciano both game confused squeaks at his statement, that continued to be sounded until Lovino finished what he was saying. "We won't be neighbors. I refuse to allow the Orange thief to not pay his debt, so to do this I will convince Grandpa to force this criminal into helping move our things. This will most likely take a while, maybe a month or four. Of course our house will be your prison cell, and fortunately for you," he turned smirked at Antonio, "our family makes wonderful prison food."

Feliciano was the first to understand what in the world his brother was saying, and he started bouncing up and down with sheer joy. "Antonio, he's saying you can come live with us! Oh that would be great wouldn't it, you can sleep and eat homemade food instead of oranges, and Lovi wasn't lying Grandpa is basically a master chef. We'll be brothers! Why are you stopping, what?" Antonio had wrested away from Lovino and had the most incredible look of sadness and surprise on his face. Lovino frowned, and walked towards him, but Antonio only stumbled backwards.

"Guys, no there's no way I could just live with you. That is in no way fair to you or your grandpa and I could never repay you for it because I don't have anything. You guys, you barely know me! I couldn't do that" He smiled solemnly.

"But Toni, you can't just stay here outside for the rest of your life. It's not healthy, it's not right! I promise you it is okay for you to come with us. We won't bite! Well, maybe Lovi will, but I wont!" Feliciano said, holding his hand out. "And sure, we may have just met you. But you seem really nice, and this way we can get to know more of you! So come on, join us!"

Antonio's eyes widened, and he smiled the brightest smile he felt he ever could. He nodded, and grabbed Feliciano's hand, as well as Lovino's. Feliciano grinned, and pulled Antonio into a little hug.

"Well now that this little event of happiness is over let's get moving you idiots." And even though Lovino's tone reeked of snark, he still had to fight back a small smile. And as they walked towards their home together, it became harder and harder each step to hide it.


	3. Family

CHAPTER THREE: Family

As Lovino was clambering down the orchard hill, he realized the slight stupidity of the action he was about to do. He was taking this kid, an orange thief, into his house, with no questions whatsoever. Sure, he seemed like a nice guy, friendly enough. Actually, he seemed too friendly. Why is he this happy, by the way? Lovino turned around to glance at Antonio, and saw him chatting happily away with Feliciano about the fantastic ways that Grandpa can make pasta, and how Italian pasta is probably the greatest thing in existence. Antonio was listening intently, nodding and chirping in about his favorite pasta ingredients, the greatest being the tomato. Lovino turned back around, feeling like he may have made a bad choice, but if the kid turns out to be nothing more than a thief, he can just kick him in the balls and send him packing. Smiling to himself about his plan, he began to pick up the pace.

As they reached the bottom of the hill, with the back of the house only a few yards away, another doubt crept into his mind. How the hell were they going to convince Grandpa to let Antonio live with them? He stopped, and was about to voice his question aloud, when his brother beat him to it.

"So Lovi, what's the plan?" Feliciano chirped, placing his hands in his jean's pockets and leaning forwards a bit. Lovino blinked, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well I was kind of just planning on a spectacular entrance, something along the lines of 'Hey Grandpa! I found a new pet, can we keep him?' but he'd probably ask if the pet was neutered or not". Antonio's eyes widened and he moved his hands towards his pelvic area protectively. Feliciano struggled to keep his giggles in, but failed pretty miserably.

"Well, we could always just walk in and explain what happened." Feliciano said, "We could say how we found Toni and what he told us. Would that work?"

Lovino nodded slightly and bit his thumbnail in concentration. "That would be the best way to go about it. Should we explain what happened, and then show Grandpa Antonio, or should we bring him in all at once?"

"What would you prefer, Toni?" Feliciano tilted his head towards the Spaniard.

"I would think it would be better if… probably if one of you goes in first." He replied.

"Fair enough. Feli you go in first. You have the best chance of convincing him to let him stay. You have pretty much mastered the art of the puppy-dog eyes, so use that talent. If that even is a talent." Feliciano smirked, and started to skip into the house. Lovino and Antonio slowly made their way to the back porch. Lovino heard some sort of odd noise coming from behind him. It sounded like someone was trying to hum a stupid theme song. Turning around, he discovered that his fears were recognized, and Antonio indeed, was trying to hum a stupid theme song. He also was doing some incredibly idiotic movements, what Lovino assumed to be "cool-looking spy moves".

"What the fuck are you doing?" Lovino asked, his voice totally deadpan.

Antonio looked up, a completely innocent look plastered on his face. He smiled, and placed his finger to his mouth in a "shush" motion. "I feel like were supposed to be secretive. Like a spy in the movies or something. Plus it's just kinda fun." He gave a little giggle noise, and turned back towards the door. Lovino rolled his eyes, and for some reason his face began to flush. He pondered at the heat rising in his cheeks, when he heard his brother's voice from inside the house.

"...And so, this is the boy we found! Come on in Antonio."

Antonio and Lovino looked at each other, and Lovino noticed Antonio was actually kind of scared. He grabbed Antonio's hand and squeezed it slightly, then punched him on the arm and led him inside the house.

They entered the living room and found Grandpa sitting in one of their old couches from their previous home. As they walked in, Grandpa stood up and leisurely meandered over to them. Feliciano bounded around behind him.

"Antonio! This is Grandpa! You can call him Grandpa Rome. Grandpa, this is Antonio" Grandpa nodded sternly, not giving Feliciano a reply. Antonio stiffened, and stared Grandpa straight in the eye. He stuck out his hand politely.

"Hello sir. My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. Feliciano has told you of my predicament, sí?" Grandpa didn't answer, merely glanced up and down Antonio, as if studying him. Antonio swallowed, but did not waver in his gaze. Grandpa stared at him, then leaned in closer to Antonio's face. Antonio's eyes widened, and he took a small step back. Grandpa frowned, backed away, and started circling Antonio, like a shark circling a helpless little seal.

"Feliciano tells me Lovino found you asleep out in our orchard, yes?" He asked, glaring at the boy without blinking.

Antonio stood up as straight as he could. "Yes sir, I had fallen asleep outside, for my afternoon siesta, when Lovino had found me."

Grandpa nodded thoughtfully. "And you have often spent your nights there after you started living by yourself?"

"Yes. I had no other home to go to. So I slept outdoors. I meant no harm by sleeping in your orchard, I would even water the trees I swear."

"Oh I don't really care about the oranges," Grandpa flicked his hand through the air, as if swiping away a fly. "I'm more concerned as to why you didn't go and live with other family members." He stopped circling Antonio and settled in front of him, bending over and placing his hands on his knees. He had a confused look on his face, with his head cocked to the side.

Antonio gulped, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well sir, after my parents died, they tried to find a home for me. But all my other relatives, and there were a lot, simply refused to take me in. They had all disowned my parents, and then me as well." He let out a nervous little laugh.

Grandpa leaned back in surprise. "What could they have disowned your entire family for? That's completely outrageous, you're family, they can't just leave you."

"Well, sir. My parents, they were…" Antonio paused, struggling to put his thoughts into words. "My family is made up of incredibly catholic people. And they follow their teachings zealously. And well, my parents. They were both men. And my family was unaccepting of that." Antonio had a sad sort of smile on his face. Grandpa only had a look of what could be described as distaste.

"Oh. Well I guess I see where they're coming from," At these words Lovino's heart gave a little skip, though he didn't know why. "But it's not like it's your fault that they were what they were. In any case, we can't as well just leave you on the street. If you wish, you may stay with us." Grandpa opened his arms for a hug and drew Antonio in. Antonio's face was pale, though, like he had just seen someone die. Then, if it was even possible, it blanched even more. Apparently something Grandpa had said scared him. However, Antonio pulled himself together, and eventually returned the hug with shaking arms. Lovino stood to the side, scanning every single movement the two made, trying to figure out what it was that was happening. He had no clue as to what had Antonio so scared, or why Grandpa had such a threatening smile as he pulled away from the hug and patted, or squished depending on how you looked at it, Antonio's head.

"Alright boys! The movers have pretty much already dealt with everything. I'll start on dinner now. Guess what Feli, it's your favorite!" Grandpa gave Feliciano a wink, who smiled and jumped over and gave Grandpa a hug. Feliciano followed Grandpa into the kitchen area, and left Antonio and Lovino in the living room. Lovino perched on the arm of the couch and played with a wayward strand of his hair.

"So what made you turn into a white-faced wuss all of a sudden, Antonio?" He asked.

Antonio started, and chuckled. "You noticed that, huh? You've got keen eyes. He just told me…" he paused, and looked at the orchard. "That if I ever stole from him again I would be castrated with a rusty spoon." He let out a laugh, a noise that would have almost passed at normal, except it was a bit too forced.

Lovino noticed this, and mumbled "Liar" under his breath. Antonio couldn't hear this though, and he started wandering around the room.

"It's a really pretty house you have! Ahh, I must wonder where I am going to be sleeping. It is one of the most important aspects of living. Well at least to me!" Lovino rolled his eyes at this ludicrous statement, and pointed to the couch he was sitting on.

"Seeing as we only have two beds at the moment, you'll be sleeping here. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, okay mister?"

Antonio nodded vigorously, and clacked his heels together and saluted Lovino. "Yes sir, mister boss man sir! Wait, no I want to be the boss. Not fair." Antonio gave a sort of pout, and closely resembled a small puppy being withheld from a treat. Lovino struggled to contain laughter, and placed a hand over his mouth. _What a weird kid._ He thought.

"Sorry, my house, my rules, I'm boss." Lovino gave a little smirk and stuck his tongue out like the ten year old he was. Antonio scrunched up his nose, and marched over to Lovino and poked Lovino in the stomach repeatedly.

"Lovi! Not fair, I wanna be the boss. Wait what are you doing?" Lovino had started to squirm, and was holding his hand firmly over his mouth.

"Don't poke my stomach, it feels weird, you bastard!" In retaliation, Lovino poked, though a bit more forcefully, into Antonio's stomach. Antonio moved to the side with a giggle. A light bulb went off in Antonio's head, and he stared at Lovino with a mischievous grin. Lovino jerked back.

"What are you smiling at?" Antonio raised his arms and wiggled his fingers menacingly. Lovino pieced together Antonio's idea, and started to back away onto the couch. "Don't you dare start tickling me you little shit!" He tried to run away, but because of the way he was sitting, he simply fell onto the couch. Antonio quickly moved around to the side and clambered on top of Lovino, and started to violently tickle him to death. Lovino put up a valiant fight, trying to land in a few jabs here and there, but to no avail. Soon Lovino was drowning in waves of laughter, and his face turned bright red. Antonio laughed and sat up on Lovino's legs.

"You kinda look like a tomato right now." Antonio jumped off the couch, brushed himself off, and faced Lovino with the most innocent smile he could muster. Lovino however, was sprawled quite gracefully, on the couch. He took a second to collect his breath and stop his face from flushing, then in a quick procession of movements, grabbed Antonio, slammed him onto the couch and pinned him down.

"You little shit, you're gonna get tickled till you die of asphyxia." He smirked, and raised his hand to prepare to murder the kid, when a voice called from the kitchen.

"Lovino! Antonio! Dinner is ready, come and get it!" Feliciano came bounding out from the hallway to find Lovino giving him a glare. Feliciano glanced quickly from him to Antonio, who was practically begging Feliciano to come save him. Feliciano put the pieces together, and jumped up and down ecstatically.

"Oh! It's a tickle fight I see, can I join! Lovino I'm gonna go tickle you come here!"

Lovino scrambled off of Antonio and tried to escape to the kitchen, but Feliciano blocked the way. Lovino whirled around to escape through the back door, but Antonio had managed to jump off of the couch and block his way.

"No way amigo. You are not escaping from the tag team Feli and Toni!" Antonio half growled, a smirk growing on his face. Lovino blanched, and stumbled backwards.

"Shit oh fuck I'm so dead."

With those words, Antonio and Feliciano set upon Lovino, who scrambled around and ran down the hallway towards the front door. They chased Lovino out the front door, when Lovino had the idea of running out around to the back of the house and going through the back porch to the kitchen and safety. He laughed as he sprinted, thankful for the Italian gene of being able to run fast as fuck away from anything potentially fatal. He could hear the jittery running of his younger brother, and a deep, booming laugh that seemed to be Antonio's. _ You little fuckers aren't getting me. Not today_. Lovino thought, as he put on an extra burst of speed. He rounded the back corner of the house and jumped up onto the back porch. As he opened the sliding glass door, he noticed Antonio turning the corner. Antonio realized Lovino's plan, and his green eyes grew wide with defeat. Lovino barked a laugh, and sprinted inside. He dashed straight for the kitchen, and once he located a chair, slid onto the seat and sat there, catching his breath. Grandpa, who was apparently at the stove, whirled around at the sound of clattering chairs and discovered three sweating children gasping for breath at his dinner table. He blinked, then laughed, placing his hands on his hips.

" You all look like you just ran in a bull fight! What did you do chase each other around the house?" He said, turning back to the stove to bring the food to the table. The boys looked at each other, still slightly struggling to breath. Antonio was the first to crack, then Feliciano, and finally Lovino. They all ended up laughing as hard as they possibly could, clutching at their stomachs and yet again struggling to breathe. After a full four minutes of straight laughter, they managed to settle down. Grandpa shook his head, and set all the food on the table.

* * *

After all the food was finished, and all the dishes were cleaned and put away, it was around that time where everyone's eyelids began to droop and yawns escaped from mouths. It didn't help that they were all tuckered out from running everywhere, so Grandpa ordered an early bedtime, to which no one disagreed. Lovino left the kitchen and gestured for Antonio to follow.

He walked over to one of the many boxes that were scattered about from the move and pulled out a fist full of blankets and pillows. He turned and shoved the pile into Antonio's chest.

"This enough for you?" Antonio sort of stumbled back but he caught himself and held the menagerie of bedding items and nodded. Lovino gave Antonio a quick "Night" and turned to go to his room, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. Turning around, he was quickly pulled into a squishing hug.

"Thank you for all of this. You are a good person," Antonio said, just barely above a whisper. He pulled away and smiled at Lovino, who stammered through a "Thank you."

"Just go to bed, you idiot," and he marched upstairs.

He reached his room and quietly shut his door. Yawning, he walked over to the pile of boxes labeled "clothes" and rummaged for pajamas. He managed to find a raggedy shirt and shorts, and quickly changed his clothes. Just before he was about to scramble into his bed, he heard a soft knocking on his door.

"Yeah, what is it?" He called out. The door opened, and in came Feliciano, holding a pillow.

"Hey, brother? Is Antonio gonna be sleeping downstairs, all by himself? I don't think that's so great." He clutched the pillow tighter and looked down. Lovino thought about it for a bit.

"He's old enough to sleep by himself he'll be fine." He said, and started to clamber into his bed. Feliciano walked over and gently started tugging on Lovino's sleeve.

"But he's going to be all alone downstairs, in the dark. He's probably all scared and stuff. Plus he hasn't slept in a house for a while, and it'll probably be weird." Lovino turned around, his mouth opening to chastise him for being a baby, when he saw the face his brother was making. _Shit not the frigging puppy eyes. _Lovino tried to avoid his brother's pleading face, but he just couldn't handle it. He groaned, and then crawled out of bed.

'Fine fine, we'll go. God you and your stupid face." Lovino grabbed his pillow and Feliciano's arm and dragged him back down the stairs. Feliciano beamed, and pulled ahead and started skipping down the staircase.

"Yay! I'll meet you down there, first I have to go to the bathroom." He said as he reached the bottom step and rounded the corner to the bathroom in the hallway. Lovino sighed, and trudged down the bottom of the steps. He was nearing the living room where Antonio was, when he heard Antonio's voice drifting through the halls. Once or twice, Lovino heard his name being said. Lovino slowly moved closer, trying to listen in to what Antonio was saying about him. It seemed to be that Antonio was praying.

"…was just sleeping there, peacefully when he kicked me awake. Boy did he look mad! I thought I was going to die simply by being glared at. I tried to run away, but I ended up just falling flat on my face. Way to go graceful me!" Lovino heard Antonio give out a breathy little laugh.

"Anyways, we ended up talking for a bit, and I let it slip that I didn't have a home. Lovi had the most dumbfounded look on his face, and he kept going on about how it wasn't right. Then he just kind of dragged me by the hand towards his house and said 'You can live with us'. I thought I was dreaming, but I wasn't! Lovi was dead serious; he wasn't going to leave me out there. He didn't leave me." Lovino heard the growing smile in Antonio's voice, and slowly walked around the corner and leaned up against the wall. Antonio was kneeling against the couch, his head resting against his clasped hands.

" I found a great family today. Even though Señor Roma scares me to death, I really wish to stay. He didn't leave me, so I will not leave him. Absolutely" Antonio finished his prayer and stretched. Lovino meandered into the room, and smacked Antonio over the head with his pillow. Antonio flailed his arms a bit whirled around to see Lovino looking up at the ceiling.

"… Better not leave." Lovino mumbled. Antonio looked confused, and cocked his head to the side like a puppy. Lovino shook his head, and threw his pillow on the floor. Feliciano then bounded into the room and threw his pillow next to his brothers.

"We are here to save you from the scary darkness, Toni!" He chirped. Lovino snatched a blanket from the couch and settled down on the floor.

"Feliciano, so help me god, if you kick me in your sleep I will drown you."

"I don't wanna drown! Lovi don't drown me. I can't help it if I kick! I'm unconscious I can't control my limbs." Feliciano flailed his arms for emphasis. Antonio laughed.

"You both just never cease to surprise me. It's great. Thank you." Antonio quickly got up from the couch and ran over to hug Feliciano, then rounded back and opened his arms to Lovino. Lovino simply curled up under a protective blanket and started to fake snore. Antonio laughed, and patted Lovino's shoulder.

"Okay, good night everyone!" Antonio said, and he clambered onto the couch. Everyone shuffled their blankets and pillows for a good while, until they finally found their confortable spot. The first to fall asleep was Feliciano, then Antonio, and finally Lovino. The three slept peacefully through out the night, and all was well.

* * *

((AN: wow okay really long wait here, like what a month? Sorry about that. School and stuff. Welp. yup here's this chapter. Fluffy tickle fights and yay))


	4. Life Moves On

CHAPTER 4: Life Goes On

This was how Antonio Carriedo came to live with the Vargas family, and how Lovino's life began to change. Throughout the years, the boys began to learn more about each other, sharing experiences such as birthdays, family dinners (Antonio thought that HIS family was large), holidays, and many more events.

"Okay Feli, open this one next!" Grandpa Rome shoved a large, bright-green colored package into his grandson's lap. Feliciano all but tore into the wrapping paper, and sent a torrent of little strips down in a mini rainstorm. As he ripped off the last piece he gave out a little squeal and jumped up and down as he saw that what he received was a small, but never-the-less impressive, art kit, filled with brushes and easels and other supplies to subside his growing love for painting.

"It was a joint gift from Lovino and I," Grandpa said as Feliciano bounded over to hug him, "I am glad you like it."

"Antonio helped pick it out, don't forget Grandpa," Lovino mumbled. He sat on the couch next to the forgotten gift-giver, who perked up from his sullen state as he heard that he was given credit. Grandpa frowned, and looked upwards, as if trying to remember something.

"Oh yeah, he was there! I'm sorry Toni boy, I guess I forgot. You were kind of quiet that day, it's almost like you weren't even there!" And Grandpa brushed off his "mistake" with a slap of his knees and a large guffaw.

Lovino knew it was a mistake, because there was no denying Antonio's presence in the art shop. He was bounding around like a surprise puppy, looking for the perfect art kit for Feliciano. Heck, it was even his idea to get the damn thing. Lovino glared at his Grandpa, who shrugged and smiled. Antonio gave a nervous little laugh, and rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess I was just having an off day, no?" Antonio gave off a louder laugh, and smiled. The idiot was playing along! Lovino gawked at him for a moment, before he heard his brother laughing and bounding over to him.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I am so happy, now I can stop begging Grandpa for paper and paint!" Feliciano giggled, then dashed over to the Christmas tree in the back corner of the living room.

"Aha! What is this?" Feliciano said, pulling up a small, circular package from the farthest most corner of the pine tree. As he looked around for a name tag, Antonio cleared his throat and called out.

"Ah, that would be for Lovi. Yup" Antonio nodded and smiled at Feliciano, who then slowly walked over to Lovino, carefully examining the crudely wrapped parcel. He handed it over to his brother and smiled, sitting down on the floor directly in front of him.

"I didn't see that one there earlier. I wonder what it is? Open it Lovi, open it!" Feliciano proclaimed.

"Yeah yeah, be patient you weirdo," Lovino said, as he practically shredded open the wrapping. He was just as confused as his brother; he didn't think that Antonio would get him, and only him, something for Christmas. Speaking of Antonio, Lovino could feel him bouncing up and down on the couch in anticipation. Lovino shot a glare as to say "stop bouncing you idiot," but Antonio only smiled and laughed. Lovino rolled his eyes and tore off the last piece of wrapping, and held up his present.

"It's a fucking tomato. A fucking wooden tomato," He said, and though his words insinuated disappointment, his tone was that of surprise and happiness. Antonio picked up on this and just smiled wider and nodded. He held out his hand, asking for the wooden fruit, and Lovino delicately placed it in his palm.

"I carved it out of one of the fallen branches from the orange grove, and then painted it with supplies from when we went to buy Feli's present. It took me a few days, but I finally got the shape right, though it looks slightly bruised on this side." Antonio slowly turned the tomato in his hand, stopping to show a side that, indeed, looked like it had fallen and hit the ground. Lovino stared at it in wonder, then noticed that there were Band-Aids covering Antonio's hands.

_Holy fuck, he hurt himself doing this. What, how do I deal with that?_ Lovino thought, slightly flustered at the gift. However, he wasn't about to let his emotions be shown, so he grabbed the tomato from Antonio.

"Wow a bruised wooden tomato. Thank you so much Toni," he said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. And though he rolled his eyes and looked unimpressed, he actually really loved the tiny fruit. Antonio, oblivious to the sarcasm, lit up at his thanks, and reached over and hugged Lovino.

"Yay, I'm so glad you like it! Merry Christmas, Lovi," He said, laughing and avoiding Lovino's flailing arms as he tried to detach himself from Antonio.

"Whatever just stop hugging me, stupid." He huffed. However, all throughout the rest of the day, the little tomato never left his possession.

* * *

"…Happy Birthday Feliciano and Lovino, Happy Birthday to you!" There was a round of applause from the menagerie of relatives situated around the mahogany dining table. They were all laughing and smiling, then cheering once more as the twin brothers blew out the 14 candles haphazardly placed on the birthday cakes. Grandpa Rome split through the crowd to cut the cake. As he was cutting everyone slices, he glanced over his shoulder to find a mess of dark brown hair in the corner of the kitchen.

"Hey, Toni!" Grandpa called to the boy standing in the back, "Go down to the wine cellar and grab a bottle or two of a nice red wine. It's time to celebrate!" The adults cheered again, already making promises for designated drivers and plans to be wasted. Antonio smiled and dashed away down to the wine cooler in the garage. Grandpa Rome gestured to the adults to follow them into the living room, announcing that it was "Present and Wine time." Feliciano bounded out of his seat, nearly dropping his slice of cake, and dashed into the living room. He plopped himself onto the worn out leather couch and smiled eagerly. Lovino glanced towards the basement, and realized that Antonio hadn't gotten a slice. He cut a fairly average slice and meandered over to the couch, rolling his eyes at his brother's ecstasy.

Birthdays have never been his forte. He never really enjoyed the fact that every, single, family member had to visit in one single day. They all piled into the house and just made the place sweltering hot. Too many people in one area made him feel strange. His brother however, loved the partying and the multitude of attention he received. It was always Feliciano who was the life of the party, having a seemingly endless stream of things to talk about and questions to ask. The relatives ate it up, and weren't afraid to voice their opinions. Too many times Lovino had accidentally walked in on a conversation about how he could be so "unsociable and grumpy", which was how they put it. "So unlike the rest of his family, barely even Italian". Lovino had gotten used to the comments and usually ignored them. Once or twice a particularly snarky jab from a younger cousin would reach through his barrier, but he would just reply back with an even greater demeaning insult and send the kid crying. This ends up with an angry Aunt and an even angrier Grandpa, so Lovino learned to lay low at events like these, retreating to his bedroom or the stables as quick as he can.

As Lovino lowered himself onto the couch next to his brother, Antonio came up out of the basement with two bottles of Lambrusco. Grandpa noticed him, and waved his hand in the air.

"Come here Toni, bring over the alcohol." Antonio nodded and carefully walked over to him, slightly struggling to carry the wine bottles. He managed to hand them over to Grandpa, and then whirl around and flop onto the couch next to Lovino.

"Hey, watch it! You almost sat on the cake, idiot." Lovino huffed, replacing the two plates on his lap. Antonio laughed sheepishly, and then noticed the spare plate.

"Lovi, you're eating two pieces of cake? You're going to get chubby if you eat so much." Antonio reached out and pinched Lovino's cheek. Lovino swatted away his hands, and thrust the spare plate into Antonio's hands.

"I'm not eating two, dumbass. You forgot yours, so I had to bring your plate over." As Lovino said this, he noticed that Antonio had a dumbfounded look on his face. It was there for a split second, before it was replaced by a smile that could have lit up the room.

"Wow, thank you Lovi! You didn't have to do that for me, you are a really nice guy." Antonio flailed around a bit before snuggling up against Lovino, who flushed bright red and flailed around as well. Lovino struggled to push the happy Spaniard away from him, but quite miserably failed. He gave up with a sigh, and begrudgingly returned the hug.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It was nothing." He brushed off. Antonio laughed and ruffled his hair, then turned his attention back to the party at hand, watching Feliciano open his first present. Lovino smoothed out his hair, save for the one stubborn, wayward curl that always stood out, and wondered why it was that his heart started pounding.

* * *

"Hey, did you hear? We have new neighbors!"

Lovino looked up from the book he was reading and saw his brother dashing over to him on the front porch. He cocked his head sideways, confused at his brother's statement.

"Whaddaya mean, neighbors? Is it the farm a few minutes down the road from here? I thought that place was unfertilized." Lovino sat up and swung over to sit on the side of the hammock he was sitting on. Feliciano leaned up against the side of the railing, and nodded.

"Yup. Apparently they've re-fertilized it or something. And get this; they have kids around our age! They're from Germany, I think, and their name is Beil… Beilshi? Beilshim? Beil- something. Anyways, it's a big family, there are around four or five kids, and it seems like they all live with a grandpa, like us! The oldest looked around 15, just a year older than us. One of the kids was a cute little girl who seemed like she was our age! Maybe they're friendly, should we go say hi?" Feliciano blurted out. He barely gave Lovino any time to respond before he grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him up off the couch. Feliciano lugged the resisting Lovino, who kept stammering in protest, saying things like "They're German, oh god no god damned potato-eaters. I'm not talking to them, even if there is a cute girl there no way. Stop pulling me, are you even listening to me?" Feliciano wasn't, and he just kept dragging Lovino along.

"Whoa hey, where are you guys going?" Feliciano and Lovino stopped at Antonio's voice and whirled around.

_Thank god, maybe Toni will convince Feli to let me go,_ Lovino thought. He wretched his hand out of Feliciano's and rubbed it. "Feliciano says that there are some new _German _neighbors, and that we should go and say 'Hi' to the shits." He said.

Feliciano frowned, and said, "Hey, you never know! They may be really nice and fun, but if you keep being a sour puss you'll never meet any friends!"

Lovino rolled his eyes, "I don't need any more friends," he said, and started to walk back towards the house. Antonio blocked his way, and gently grabbed his arm and turned him around.

"Feliciano is right, Lovi. C'mon, you've been reading all day and you haven't talked to anyone! That can't be fun. Let's go say hi to our new neighbors," Antonio smiled, and Lovino groaned. After some thought, he finally complied, though not without a punch to Antonio's shoulder.

"Fine you bastard. Let's go be friendly idiots." Lovino grumbled, as he whirled around to march down the path.

The entire time they walked, Antonio and Feliciano would not shut up about the possibilities of the family. They voiced aloud their wonders about whether the family was nice, if the girl was adorable and their age, whether they could cook, if they liked pasta or not, the list continued on and on. It took all Lovino had not to whirl around and dash towards the comfort of his book. However, even if he did decide to go back, they walk was short enough that they reached the neighbor's house before Lovino could make his escape.

As they walked up to the house, they saw all the movers unloading boxes and furniture from moving trucks. A tall, intimidating man with long, braided, blond hair barked directions as to where the items should go. All around the front lawn, five teens were chasing each other around on the grass. Well actually, a very pale-haired kid was running around holding something in his hands whilst being chased by an angry brunette, boy who was also followed by an even angrier looking blond boy. A small girl in a pink dress just flustered about, trying to tell them all to calm down, but her effort was in vain. Another blond child, also irritated, tried to tell the girl that she wasn't doing anything, but then the pale-haired kid ran past him and poked him in the chest. This caused him to grow angrier, till it was clear that he had the worst temper and he chased around the poker in a fast sprint. The pale-haired kid's face matched his hair as he dashed around the front yard, till he was caught and shoved to the ground by his chasers.

_Great. They're all nuts, _Lovino thought, grimacing. Feliciano, however, did not understand their insanity, and grabbed Lovino and Antonio's hands and dragged them forward to meet the kids.

As soon as they were within hearing range Feliciano shouted out in greeting. "HELLO NEW NEIGHBORS!" He jogged up and waved merrily in their direction. Lovino sighed, shook his head, and sauntered over, Antonio half-skipping right behind him. In a seemingly impossible unity, the five children looked in Feliciano's direction. The pale-haired boy smirked, glanced at Lovino's saunter, and mimicked the walk. Lovino glared at him, and immediately decided he was an asshole.

"Hey there. Name's Gilbert, my friends call me Gil." Pale-hair said, with a very prominent German accent. _Yup, they're definitely frigging potato eaters. Damn._ Lovino thought, and groaned inwardly.

"What friends?" grumbled the brunette boy. Gilbert frowned, and stuck his tongue out in the commenter's direction.

"Like you're one to talk Roddy. Anyways, who are you?"

Antonio stepped forward and stuck out his hand with a smile. "I am Antonio, Toni for short. This is Feliciano," he jerked his head towards Feli, who smiled and waved, "and this is Lovino." Lovino rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Gilbert blinked in surprise, then chuckled and put his hands behind his head.

"Alright. This here is mien familie! There's Roderich over here," he walked over and clapped the brunette on the back rather sharply. Roderich grimaced, then composed himself and stuck out his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you all." He said. Antonio shook hands with him, then moved back and allowed Feliciano to practically squash Roderich with a hug.

"Over here is Lili and Sebastian, or Basch as he likes it." Gilbert moved over to the blonde girl and boy. Lili curtsied, then stood up and smiled, while Basch gave a curt bow. _ Whelp, they're formal as fuck. _Lovino thought.

"Then we have the tight-ass Ludwig!" Gilbert bounced over and gave Ludwig a noogie, to which Ludwig replied with a shove to the shoulder that knocked Gilbert to the ground.

"I am not a tight-ass," he asserted. Ludwig then turned and stuck out his hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Antonio, Feliciano, and Lovino. Am I correct in assuming that you live on the farm 15 minutes away from ours?"

"Yup! That would be our house!" Feliciano said, as he absolutely ignored the hand and went straight for a hug instead. Ludwig turned slightly pink in the face as he fumbled about trying to figure out how to respond to the action. Lovino snorted, quite amused at Ludwig's predicament. Then he grew rather annoyed, as Feliciano did not stop hugging Ludwig. He glared at them, and Ludwig noticed and gently pushed Feliciano away. Feliciano cocked his head, then shrugged and skipped back towards his brother. Ludwig coughed, and smoothed back his hair.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, but I believe we must go and help our Grandfather with all the unpacking now. Good bye." Ludwig nodded his head, then whirled around in a military-like fashion and walked back towards his house. The rest of the siblings, minus Gilbert, who was slowly picking himself up off of the ground, followed suit.

"I told you he was a tight-ass." He said as he brushed the grass off of the back of his pants. "In any case, I'm not so stuffy, so if you ever have the need, drop by and say hello, 'kay?" Gilbert smiled, and stuck out his hand once more. Antonio grinned back, and clasped his hand firmly.

"Shall do, Gilbert. I'll see you around." Antonio replied. Gilbert nodded, gave a mock salute, and whirled around and dashed back to his house. Antonio laughed, and started walking back home, Feliciano and Lovino following suit.

"Gilbert seems nice, doesn't he?" Antonio said. Lovino scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"If the definition of nice changed to 'asshole' then yeah sure. Perfectly nice guy." Lovino retorted, causing Antonio to give a great laugh. _He has a really nice laugh_. Thought Lovino, which caused him to shake his head in embarrassment. _Nope, no he doesn't. My brain is being stupid. _He walked towards his house quicker, trying to leave Antonio behind. However, his efforts were in vain, and Antonio simply picked up the pace.

_ God Damn it._

* * *

Time went on, and the boys slowly but surely grew up on that little farm they called home. More birthdays, unbearable Christmas dinners, and holidays came and went, until eventually Lovino turned 18. It was in this year that everything Lovino ever was and will be changed.


	5. Changes

CHAPTER 5: Changes

The air whizzed through Lovino's hair, nipping at his cheeks as he rode through the maze of orange trees. He expertly maneuvered his horse through the branches of fruit, dodging left and right. Every so often he risked a glance behind him to find his Spanish friend trying to keep up with him, but falling ever so slowly farther away. Lovino let out a triumphant laugh, and then leapt out of the orchard onto an open plain. He quickly spotted his destination, the old barn just a short distance away. Grinning, he urged his horse faster, shouting victory into the air.

"Looks like I win this race Toni! Better luck next time." He laughed, turning around to smirk at his opponent, but he was nowhere in sight. He frowned, then his heart skipped a beat as he heard Antonio's golden laughter to his right. Whirling back around, he realized that his confidence had distracted him enough to allow Antonio to speed past him on his opposite side. Cursing, he whipped the rains again, and glared at Antonio, who had turned around to face him.

"Race isn't over yet Lovi, I still have a chance." He said, smirking and throwing Lovino a wink before turning back and putting on an extra burst of speed. There was only a small stretch of land left before the barn now, a mere 60 seconds between the riders and either victory or dreaded defeat. Lovino felt the adrenaline pumping through his veins, not about to lose this race. He was on a winning streak after all, 5 victories in a row; he wasn't about to lose that. Only 30 seconds left. Lovino pushed forward, reaching just up to the side of Antonio's horse. Looking over he saw the fiery competition gleaming in Antonio's green eyes, laughter dancing from his mouth. 20 seconds now. Antonio looked over and saw how close the two horses were, close enough that with enough effort, one person could jump from one horse to the other. 10 seconds left. Lovino watched in horror as Antonio slowly stood up on his stirrups, expertly swing his legs around the backside of his horse and casually slip behind Lovino onto his horse. Lovino jerked and swerved in shock, but Antonio managed to stay on, snaking his hands around Lovino's waist and grabbing the reins. Lovino felt Antonio's chest flush against his back as he maneuvered the horse into the stable area. Antonio pulled back on the reins, commanding the horse to a stop, and quickly jumped off. Lovino sat on the horse, clutching his chest and struggling to breathe. Antonio dashed off to retrieve his own horse, which had slowed to a stop after his rider had left him and was now munching on the grass casually. Lovino slowly slid off the horse, heavily leaning against it trying to keep his balance. He heard Antonio's horse walking over, it' s hooves plopping on the grass.

"Looks like this race is a tie, Lovi! Did you like my little trick at the end? Pretty fantastic, right?" Antonio laughed, and jumped into Lovino's view. When he noticed that Lovino was hunched over, face as pale as snow, he kneeled in front of him, eyebrows crunching together in concern.

"Lovi? What is it, what's the matter?" He asked. When Lovino didn't answer Antonio grabbed his shoulders and lightly shook him. "Lovino you need to speak to me. Are you breathing? Lovino you need to breathe, listen to me you need-"

THUNK

Antonio doubled over, holding his stomach as he felt the pain of being punched in the stomach by an incredibly furious Italian.

"You. Fucking. Idiot. You scared the shit out of me you don't just jump onto my horse like that!" Lovino shouted, his face turning bright red. "You could have pushed me off my horse, you could have scared it into bucking me off! You could have fallen off and snapped your neck and died you blundering idiotic fuck-head!"

Antonio looked at Lovino with a mixed look of confusion and pain. After what seemed like an eternity, Antonio finally broke, falling to the ground with fits of laughter. Lovino stared at him, looking as if he was ready to throw another punch when Antonio stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Oh Lovino. You know I wouldn't knock you off! I'm way too skilled to do that." Antonio smirked, and clapped a hand on Lovino's shoulder. Lovino, however knocked it off and started walking towards the stable, grabbing his horse's reins and leading him towards his stall.

"Skills my ass. You wouldn't understand how to do anything that

involved a minor amount of skills if it was staring you right in the face." Antonio rolled his eyes and grabbed his own horse's reins, following behind Lovino.

"Well I had enough to be able to hop from one horse to the other! I believe that means I am skilled in some sort." Antonio countered. Lovino couldn't come up with a witty enough response to this, and so he grumbled meaningless curses and swung open the stall door. Antonio snickered, and did the same, only less angrily. Antonio turned around, and noticed Lovino had already started the walk back to the house, and ran to catch up. Once at Lovino's side, he snaked an arm around his shoulder, forcing Lovino closer.

"Oh come one,Lovi. Don't be mad at me! I was only playing around, I wouldn't have hurt you or gotten hurt. You know me better than that. At least I hope you do." Lovino sighed, and bumped his head lightly against Antonio's, as a sort of acceptance. Antonio understood, and unwound his arm from Lovino's neck, smiling. As they walked back they exchanged small talk, conversing about the weather and what they would have for dinner,

Cracking dumb jokes, and the like. By the time they got to the house, the horse-hopping incident had been forgotten, and all was well.

* * *

"Hey! There you guys are. Grandpa and I were looking for you, we need you to do some little chores, per favore," Feliciano said as he spotted Antonio and Lovino as they walked up to the house.

"Sure, what do you need us to do?" Antonio chirped. Feliciano pointed towards a large bag if oats on the ground.

"Grandpa needs you to take this to the barn and put it up with the rest of the feed. The bag is really heavy, so both of you should help out. When you're done, Grandpa and I will be in the kitchen preparing dinner, so could you please set the table and whatnot? Okay, thank you!" and with that Feliciano jumped inside and fled to the kitchen.

"He didn't even wait till we gave an answer. Little twerp. Oh well. Toni, come help me with this," Lovino commanded as he bent down to pick up the feed bag. When Antonio didn't immediately come over to the other side, Lovino whirled around to bark at him when he noticed Antonio was staring at something in Lovino's general direction, his cheeks a rosy pink.

"What? Is there something on my ass or something?" Lovino inquired, trying to manoeuvre his body into being able to see his backside. Antonio cleared his throat, shook his head, and walked over to the other side, picking up the bag. Confused, Lovino shrugged, figured it was nothing, and began to lift the bag.

"Woah shit." Lovino cursed, as he dropped the bag immediately, "Feliciano wasn't kidding. This things heavier than a horse. This ought to be pleasant.

Antonio laughed. "We'll have to work together. I'll count to three, the. We'll lift okay? " Lovino nodded, and prepped himself to carry the load. "Alright, uno, dos, tres!"

Grunting, the two managed to lift the bag and slowly carry it about twenty feet before they had to rest. It was in this way that they carried the load to the barn, quickly walking it 20 feet then stopping for breath. When they finally managed to get it inside the barn, they realised the major task that appeared before them.

"We have to get it up there? Dios mios why?" Antonio whined as he glared up the latter towards the loft where they kept the food, stationed at least 15 feet off the ground. Lovino groaned, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, there really is no easy way to go about this. I guess we'll just have to climb up the latter and drag the bag with us. You wanna go up first?" He looked at Antonio, who blanched at the thought. Lovino frowned, and sighed. "I will take that as a 'no dear god Lovi don't make me climb the scary latter'". Antonio pouted and crossed his arms, but nodded yes in agreement. Lovino snickered, then grabbed the bag whilst facing the latter.

"Okay ready? I'm going up. Make sure I don't fall and crack my skull open and die." Lovino joked, earning a short laugh from Antonio. As he started up the latter, he listened to the creaks and groans coming from the wood. Lovino wondered how old this latter even was, and worried it would even hold him, plus the weight of the bag. As he reached the last step, his fears were realised as his foot broke through the wooden rung, and he stumbled backwards off the latter.

The only thought running through Lovino's mind at that point was "Oh dear lord I don't want to die, that shit hurts," as he fell in what felt like slow motion. He closed his eyes before he hit the ground, hoping his death would be swift and painless, when he hit something soft and warm with a resounding thud.

"Am I dead? Oh dear lord please don't let me be dead, I don't want to be dead ooh no," Lovino murmured, curling up against whatever it was he landed on.

"No Lovi, you're not dead, but I will be if you don't get off of me soon, please," Antoni's voice said, coming from underneath Lovino. Peeking open his eyes, he realised that the voice was right, he was, indeed, alive, and he was, indeed, suffocating Antonio. Scrambling into an upright sitting position, he stared at Antonio, roaming his hands over his chest to check for any injuries.

"Oh god I didn't break any bones did I? Are your ribs broken Toni, do you feel any pain?" Lovi asked, frantically checking every inch of Antonio's body, even going so far as to lift up his shirt, thought that action quickly ended as he saw Antonio's chest.

"Yes, I do feel pain Lovi. You are sitting on me, and you are quite heavy," Antonio replied, groaning a bit. Lovino frowned, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh. I'm so not heavy, so you should be fine. Suck it up." Lovino retorted, and slowly stood up. Antonio laid on the ground, clutching at his chest as he gratefully sucked in air for his dying lungs. Lovino rolled his eyes, and offered Antonio his hand. "Get up you moron."

Antonio looked up at Lovino's hand, and grabbed it, pulling himself up. He didn't immediately let go of it however, as he quickly scanned Lovino's body for any injuries that may have happened to him. He stopped at Lovino's knee, and he knelt and lightly grazed over the torn skin and blood bubbles that were forming. Lovino winced as his knee sent angry signals of pain to his brain, and he jerked his knee away. Antonio smirked, and looked up.

"What did you say about 'Sucking it up'." Antonio said. Lovino glared at Antonio, who snickered. Just as Lovino was about to make some snarky remark, Antonio took Lovino's knee in his mouth and licked off the blood. Lovino gasped, then jerked his knee away.

"The fuck are you doing?" Lovino questioned, angrily drying to dab the spit and blood off of his knee. Antonio cocked his head to the side, like a confused puppy.

"We need to clean it off," he said simply. Lovino stared at him incredulously.

"That's what water and Neosporin is for, Toni," Antonio blushed, and looked down at the ground.

"O-oh. Right, water works. Yeah. Okay let's get that cleaned then." He stood up and brushed the dirt off from his jeans. Turning around, he marched quickly back towards the house. Lovino shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Toni,you're forgetting something," Lovino called out. Antonio whirled around, and quickly walked back towards the barn. Lovino pointed to the fallen bag of feed that they were supposed to have put in the loft.

"Oh. Well let's just put it over in a corner somewhere, seeing as how the latter is broken and all."

"Right, there you go Toni," Lovino remarked. They quickly picked the bag up, and shoved it gracefully into a back corner, and began to walk back towards the house.

"Do you need me to carry you, Lovi? Does it hurt too much?" Antonio questioned. Lovino shook his head.

"I'm not that weak, it doesn't hurt too much. Would have been much worse if I hadn't landed on your squishy body. I guess I owe a thank you" Lovino stopped, and faced Antonio dramatically. He bent down, and lightly patted Antonio's stomach. "Thank you Antonio's belly, for breaking my fall." Antonio laughed, and ruffled Lovino's hair.

"My belly says you're welcome, anytime." Lovino stood up, and smirked. And for the second time that day, they walked back from the barn house, cracking small jokes and postulating about dinner plans.

* * *

(So hey guys I am totally alive and writing and whatnot hahaha yeah.

Sorry about not posting in a while. School's a biyatch and finals are coming up soooo yup

Any and all opinions, suggestions, and reviews would be wonderful. If you are reading this, thank you veeery very much.

Love you all!)


	6. Market Trip

CHAPTER 6: Market Trip

"... and then we need three cartons of eggs, two gallons of milk, a package of sausage, you know the brand, and finally a few tomatoes just for you Lovi,"

Lovino grabbed the shopping list from his grandpa and checked it over once, committing the items to memory. He nodded, shoved the list in his back pocket, and whirled around to leave the house.

"Make sure you get back before 5, Lovi! We need to make dinner and whatnot. Plus it would suck if you got lost, which is most likely to happen." Grandpa called out. "Actually, you will get lost. Take Antonio with you. You'll need help carrying all the bags."

Lovino rolled his eyes and flipped his grandpa the bird. "Yeah, no thank you. I am a perfectly strong person, who can carry a couple of fucking eggs, grandpa."

Grandpa ignored him, save for a small finger wave of disappointment. "Antonio!" he shouted, "Get down here, please. Lovino needs you to help his scrawny little ass carry groceries home."

"Do not need help at all! Go back to whatever the hell it was you were doing, or whatever," Lovino shouted back, and quickly started to walk out the door and escape. However, Grandpa barred his way.

"Nope, you are not leaving yet. Antonio! come on, Lovino doesn't have all day!"

"Yes I do, just ignore him. I think Grandpa is going senile." Lovino tried to maneuver around Grandpa, but the old man slammed his hands on the wall, prohibiting any escape.

"I'm a perfectly sane old man, Antonio. Just get your ass down here an-"

"DEAR LORD IN SWEET HEAVEN WILL YOU SHUT UP I AM TRYING TO TAKE A GODDAMNED SIESTA IS THAT SO DIFFICULT. ANTONIO GET YOUR ASS DOWN THERE AND GO WITH LOVINO." Feliciano's screeching voice carried through the house and entered Lovino's eardrums, causing him to wince. Man, you think we would learn he's cranky when he wakes up. Lovino thought. There was a loud thumping noise, followed by the sound of footsteps as Antonio finally moved. Lovino spotted his head peeking over the banister, then noticed the ear buds hanging out of his shirt.

"Yes, what is it? I am super sorry, I had my ear buds in."

Lovino glared at him, and slapped a hand against his forehead. "I can see that now. God you are going to make yourself deaf or something. Just, come with me to the market, okay? Do that much right,"

Antonio nodded, and quickly jumped down the staircase. Brushing off his shirt and ruffling his hair, he quickly walked over and opened the door.

"After you, Lovino!" He said, smiling. Lovino only rolled his eyes and pointed at Antonio's barefeet.

"Shoes moron," Lovino retorted, and quickly walked out the door, snickering as he heard the confused mumbles from Antonio as he looked for his footwear.

* * *

After walking the half-mile long trip they finally reached the market. As per the norm, market-life was bustling with activity, smells and sounds coming from every which way, vendors selling items varying from pencils to pasta, people mulling about chatting to their friends, and other activities. Coming to the market was one of Lovino's favorite times of the month, as there were so many things to see and they changed with each visit. Not to mention all the pretty women out shopping with his friends, which really was what Lovino loved the most. He enjoyed hearing the girly giggle escape from their lips as he winked at them, or threw out a cheesy pickup line. Of course, there was also the running away of angry jealous boyfriends, but he normally could sprint away and hide quick enough, and even that in itself was a thrill.

Taking a deep whiff of the market place smell, he tugged on Antonio's sleeve and forced him forward, as he too was taking in the sights of the place. Laughing, Antonio pulled Lovino to a stop, and held out his hand.

"Here, Lovino, hand me the list. I'll go get the things, and you can mull about and do whatever it is you need to do here. Okay? Meet back here in about an hour or so." Lovino, wide-eyed, quickly took out the crumpled paper list from his pocket and slammed it into Antonio's hand.

"Antonio, I don't think I say this enough, but you're the best," Lovino said as he whirled around to dash away. "Bye then! Make sure you get me my tomatoes, or else!"

Lovino leisurely walked through the crowd, giving his usual grins to the local women. Occasionally, he would go up to a particularly interesting woman and chat for a while, until he either became bored, or spotted another girl. When he became tired of talking, he walked over to his favorite spot in the market area, which was a small, secluded area in the far corner of the market. He usually sat on a bench that overlooked a small garden, and simply thought. Occasionally, on days where he just felt like shit, he would bring his sketch-book and doodle random objects or people. Of course, compared to his brother his sketches were always second-best, but he enjoyed to draw, and so he did.

As Lovino walked up to his bench he overheard an argument happening somewhere nearby. Interest peaked, he pricked up his ears and tried to find his way to the source of the sound. He found it when he turned a corner, and discovered a very large man clad in a blue hoodie roughly shoving a small, blonde girl in a pink, ripped dress into a wall. Standing there in shock, Lovino watched as the man threatened the girl and demanded that she give up her purse. The blonde squirmed and hit and bit, but the man was way too strong to have any of it. Snapping out of his daze, Lovino ran over to the man and grabbed him by the collar.

"Hey! Get off of her you asshole!" He commanded. However, he was simply met with a fist to his face. Staggering backwards, he lifted a hand to his face to discover blood dripping from his nose. He snarled at the man, and wiped his face. Charging towards the affronter, he gave a swift kick to the man's rear-end. But yet again, he was just pushed back. This time however, the man directed his attention to Lovino, obviously incredibly angry and ready to fight. Wiping his nose once again, Lovino fell into a fighting stance, lightly bouncing on his toes.

The affronter laughed, and pulled a small pocket knife from his jacket pocket. Waving it around, he said in a raspy voice, "You really wanna fight me, kid?"

Of course, now Lovino was scared shit-less, he had no desire to die. Thankfully, he was saved, as apparently the small girl wasn't so helpless as either men first thought. While her attacker's back was turned, she delivered a punch to the back of the man's spine, then quickly thrust the man's legs out from underneath him. The man fell to the floor with a resounding thud, and the girl lifted her and slammed it into the man's stomach, earning a grunt. Finishing her attack, she quickly dashed over to a very shocked Lovino and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the nearly crying assaulter.

Once they were a safe distance away, the two caught their breath. The girl smoothed out her dress, and frowned as she spotted the tears.

"Oh dear, brother will have a fit about this. Maybe I can sew it back together without him noticing? Hopefully, I don't want to have to explain what caused it." She mumbled to herself, with a voice as light as air. Lovino straightened his back as he stared at the girl who, even though she was just physically attacked, was simply worrying about her dress, which, come to think of it, was rather familiar. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, he finally recognized the girl.

"Lili?" he asked tentatively. Upon hearing her name, Lili looked up from her dress, remembering that Lovino was there.

"Oh! Lovino is that you? Thank you so much for distracting that man, it gave me the perfect opportunity to defend myself."

Lovino stared at her in disbelief, then laughed so hard his sides began to hurt. "Where, how in the world can you do that! You knocked him flat on his ass. That was probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen."

Lili blushed, and shuffled her feet. "Well, my big brother taught me everything I know. He's always going on about how I should be able to protect myself, and that I should be a strong person and stuff. Of course, brother was right, and thankfully he's a wonderful teacher. He taught me lots of things, like how to shoot a gun, or if I meet a wild animal not to take it home unless I bring him home a friend!"

Lovino just sort of chuckled, then looked at Lili, really looked at her. The dress she was wearing really looked good on her, with the magenta colour nicely accenting the small, green ribbon in her hair. Walking over to her, Lovino took the bow in his fingers and gently rubbed the silky fabric. She's grown up rather well. He thought, smiling gently at her, and ruffling her hair, which was cut rather shortly compared to the pigtail-braids she always sported.

"L-Lovi? What are you...?" Lili stammered, turning her head to the side like a puppy. Lovino slowly backed away, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ah, sorry, Lili. You're just rather cute." He said, laughing lightly. Lili jumped back slightly, eyebrows raised.

"Really? Well, thank you Lovi. That's very kind of you to say," she said, giggling.

Gaining confidence, Lovino smirked and ran a hand through his hair. "You are quite welcome. Anything fo-"  
"Lovi! There you are. It's been past the hour mark, I've been looking all over for you!" Lovino was interrupted randomly by Antonio practically jumping on him, almost causing him to collapse.

"What the- Tonio? What the fuck are you doing?" Lovino squeaked, swatting Antonio away. Antonio pouted, and shuffled his feet.

"Well, we agreed to meet up in an hour, and so I was waiting at the spot for you and you didn't turn up, so after a while I thought you were lost or hurt so I went and looked for you. "

Lovino sighed. "I was just talking to Lili here, as you can plainly see, I am absolutely fine. So, you can just go now. Yeah." Lovino finished, and started to shoo Antonio away. Unfortunately for Lovino, Antonio was oblivious to Lovino's plea, and turned his attention towards Lili, who was amusedly observing the conversation.

"Lili! Hi sorry, how are you? Wow, it's been awhile since we last talked." Antonio said, smiling and giving Lili a quick hug. Smiling, Lili gave a small curtsey.

"I am doing well, thanks to Lovino. He kind of just saved my life," she said, nodding towards a rather pleasantly surprised Lovino. Antonio blinked and looked between the two.

"Saved her life? Dios mio what happened? You two are okay right?" Antonio asked, looking Lovino up and down for injuries, then noticed his now-dried bloody nose. Quickly procuring a napkin from his pocket, he gingerly began to wipe the rest of the blood of Lovino's face, who backed up and took the napkin for himself.

"Yeah, we're more than fine. Some asshole had the gall to try to attack Lili in an alleyway," Lovino scowled at the ground, "the coward. Anyways. Lili pretty much got off Scott free, save for a tear in her dress and possible brother-interrogation. She gave the guy a good ass-whooping too."

Antonio turned to Lili, looking at her with concern. "Someone attacked you? Are you sure you're okay Lili?" Lili blinked, then checked herself from head to toe, lightly brushing over the tear in her dress, then nodding.

"Yup I am fine!" Smiling, she gave a small thumbs-up. Antonio gritted his teeth, and placed a hand on Lili's shoulder.

"Alright, if you're sure you're okay. Lovino and I need to go home now, are you by chance heading back now? If you want, we could walk you home." Antonio offered. Lili thought for a moment, then nodded.

"If it's not too much trouble, I would appreciate it, thank you."

"Alrighty! Shall we go home then?" Lovino said, gesturing towards the exit.

* * *

Lovino and Antonio walked away from the Beilschmidt house, waving goodbye to Lili as she stood in the doorway, smiling. The walk home from the market was simple and pleasant, with Lovino and Lili holding up most of the chit-chat, occasionally hearing interjections from Antonio, which was rather unlike him. Lovino figured he was just concerned for Lili, and let it slide.

"Lili has really grown up, hasn't she?" Lovino asked, yawning a bit Antonio mumbled a bit, and shoved his hands in his pockets. Lovino furrowed his eyebrows, and stared at Antonio. Scoffing, Lovino picked up the pace a bit, and started jogging towards the house. He heard Antonio chirp in surprise, then start to run towards him

"You started jogging away from me! Lovi I was thinking, that's not nice," Antonio pouted. Lovino smiled and rolled his eyes.

"There you are, thought I lost you for a second," Lovino said, ruffling Antonio's already mussy hair. Antonio frowned for a moment, but then shrugged and gave Lovino a small smile, that for some reason made Lovino's stomach flip over. Frowning and kneading his gut, he picked up the pace once more and ran into his house, leaving Antonio just as confused as he was.

* * *

( heeeey!Hello I'm here next chapter woohoo! So summer's here and I'm out of school so I will have loads of time to update and stuff. Got good things coming up. Lots more of Lovino and Antonio being loveydovy and stuff cause really there's not alot of that in there yet. There will be! After Lili and Lovi stop being little flirters. yup.

Reviews and comments and suggestions of any sort would be wonderful, thank you!)


	7. Errors

CHAPTER 7: Errors

Antonio was talking non-stop at dinner, which caused Lovino's concern to dwindle. Having lived with Antonio for as long as he had allowed him to get to know the sunny Spaniard incredibly well. He knew practically everything about him, considering that Antonio was a rather open person about everything, unlike himself. Lovino envied that about him, and thought that speaking with Antonio was rather eye-opening. However, Lovino being who he is, never really knew how to talk to people, especially men in general, and so he always acted cold towards Antonio. He never meant any of the spiteful insults he threw Antonio's way, even though he was 79% sure that it didn't phase Antonio in any way.

There still was that 21% of uncertainty, however, that practically clawed at the back of Lovino's mind.

However, he locked the clawing to the back of his mind, as he normally does, and moved on with his life. He figured he wasn't worth much enough to Antonio to actually hurt him too much, so he just kept on his mask and lived his incredibly boring life on this stupid farm millions of miles away from his home in Italy, that he still missed even though its been forever since he's moved, and wait did Grandpa just ask him something?

"What did you say?" Lovino asked, blinking out of his reverie.

Grandpa was sitting across the table, twirling a mouthful of pasta onto his fork and raising his eyebrows at Lovino. Placing the fork down on his plate, he cleared his throat.

"I said, Lovino," Grandpa enunciated, drawing out each syllable like he was talking to a pre-schooler, "Antonio was telling me about what happened today with Lili. He mentioned that you noticed how she's grown up into a lovely young woman, which indeed she has. I most certainly have noticed." Grandpa let out a booming laugh, which Lovino met by rolling his eyes. Feliciano wrinkled his nose and mumbled about how Grandpa is too old for her. Grandpa cleared his throat once again, and continued on. "In any case, Lili is a wonderful woman, and I would approve of you two, should you perchance wish to, how do you young kids say it, 'win her over with your sparkling good looks which you most definitely received from me no doubt.'" Grandpa finished with a flourish of his fork and placed his hand over his heart, which caused Lovino to emit a noise that was half snort, half laugh. Lovino wiped away the tears he pretended were at his eyes, and he noticed Antonio nearly choking on his pasta as he glanced between Grandpa and Lovino, with a look in his eyes that Lovino could only describe as fear. That, however, made no sense at all to Lovino, so he chugged down a glass of water to clear his throat, and responded to his Grandpa.

"Very funny Grandpa. Like there's anyway you would ever be considered good-looking to anyone that had a set of working eyes. And in any case, I don't think I'll be wooing anyone just yet, especially not Lili. She's practically a sister, Grandpa, that's a bit gross."

"But you do have to admit, she is rather attractive. Personally I think you two would be rather adorable together."

Lovino tried to envision a life with Lili as his girlfriend. He imagined them going on dates to the movie theater, or horse riding, or a picnic or something. He imagined giving her a welcome home kiss, imagined curling up with her on a cold winter night, her falling asleep on his shoulder and him taking her upstairs and gently placing her in bed and lightly ruffling her brown hair, as he changed Antonio into just his boxers and quietly slipped under his arms and fell asleep wrapped in his embrace feeling his heartbeat through his back.

"_Wait what the fuck when did Lili change to Antonio holy shit stop thinking Lovino eat your damn pasta_." Lovino smacked his head and started shoveling pasta into his mouth, easily finishing his dinner in record-breaking time. Jumping up from his seat he tossed his plate in the sink and made to dash up the stairs to the safety of his room.

"Where are you going Lovino, there's still dessert! It's Grandpa's homemade tiramisu, your favorite." Feliciano called out.

"Not hungry anymore. I need to shower. And I don't think we would be a cute couple, no way, sorry Grandpa ." Lovino replied curtly, quickly rounding the corner and sprinting up the stairs, slipping on the last step and falling directly on his face. Grunting, he glanced around to make sure no one saw that, and casually slipped into the bathroom. Catching his breath, he smoothed back his hair and leaned against the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

"The fuck was that, Lovino? Just, what in the world did you just imagine?" He noticed the blush slowly creeping through his cheeks, and had the urge to punch a wall. He yanked the faucet on and splashed water on his face, as if trying to wash away the redness, but to no avail. Pushing himself angrily away from the sink, he quickly peeled off his clothes and chucked them into the wicker laundry basket next to the toilet. Jumping into the shower, he turned the water to positively freezing, and tried to forget what had just occurred.

* * *

Lovino spent a good 20 minutes just standing there, letting the torrent of water slide down his body, before he realized he actually should wash his hair and whatnot. Grabbing his shampoo from the sides of the shower, he squirted a dollop of the liquid into his hands and smacked his head, lathering his wavy hair and creating a collection of bubbles. As he turned around to rinse the shampoo out from his hair, he heard the door open, and he wondered how that was possible as he was pretty sure he locked it.

"Feli? Is that you? I'm kinda taking a shower here. Would love it if you didn't barge on in here" Lovino called out, frowning as he looked for his conditioner. "Actually now that you're here, have you seen my conditioner? It's not in the shower" he asked, throwing open the shower curtain, as he was fairly comfortable with being naked in the same room as a man who was his identical twin. He looked around for his missing hair product, when he realized that it wasn't his brother that was in the bathroom with him, but Antonio. Lovino froze in his tracks and stared Antonio straight in the face. Both looked morbidly terrified to find themselves in such a situation. Gathering his wits, Lovino let out a yelp and jumped back into the shower and fumbling with the curtain. Antonio kept stammering apologies and trying to find excuses, but he eventually just settled upon "I'm so sorry Lovino, um, I'll just leave now. Grandpa Rome told me to tell you that we ate all the tiramisu, and that he borrowed your conditioner. It's now in the sink, and I am leaving now."

Lovino, sprawled against the back wall of the shower, let out a sigh of relief as he heard the door shut lightly. He gathered himself together, peaked out of the curtain to make sure no one else was in the room, and grabbed his conditioner to finally finish his shower.

* * *

Antonio dashed out of the room as quickly as he could and slammed the bathroom door shut. Leaning his back up against the wooden door, he slowly slid to the floor, placing his face in his hands.

_Dios mios Antonio, what was that? _He thought, squashing his face. _That was so rude, you should have knocked, you absolutely knew he was in there! My god I probably scared the shit out of him._

Slowly standing up, Antonio ran a hand through his hair, and meandered over to his room.

_You have just seen Lovino stark naked._

Stopping dead in his tracks Antonio smacked his head to try to rid himself of the memory, but his brain enjoys screwing him over, so he continued to think about it

He thought about how comfortable Lovino was being naked with him in the room, even though he thought Antonio was Feliciano. He thought about how the water slowly dripped down his lean, tanned body. He thought about how red Lovino's face turned when he realized it was Antonio. He thought about what it would be like to join Lovino in the showe-

Smacking himself once more, he quickly ran into his room and shut the door.

"Antonio, my friend," he said aloud to himself, "you need help."

* * *

Lovino flopped down on his bed, face-down onto his pillow. Letting out a heavy sigh, he laid there in his old ratty pajama pants just enjoying the comfort of his own bed. Then Feliciano burst through the door to hop into his own bed, which unfortunately for Lovino was situated on the opposite side of the room from his. The third week after Antonio came in to live with them, Grandpa bought him a bed, and forced either Feliciano or Lovino to give up a room for Antonio. Lovino, being the stubborn one, refused to do so, and so Feliciano moved his bed into Lovino's room, forever removing any possibility of alone time.

"Lovi! Hey, what's up brother? Have a nice shower?" Feliciano asked, jumping onto Lovino's bed and snuggling up to his brother. Lovino in response, lightly kicked his brother in the shin and grunted, eliciting a high-pitched whine from Feliciano, who immediately jumped up and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Lovino that hurt why would you kick me I'm your brother!" Feliciano pouted.

"It's because you're my brother that I kick you. It's brotherly-love or some shit like that." Lovino replied.

"So you love me? I knew it!"

"Fuck off"

"You said it! Don't tell me to fuck off when you said you loved me!" Feliciano jumped back on the bed and snuggled right up against Lovino again, who in return, kicked him again. Feliciano, however was prepared this time, and dodged his brother's foot, and wrapped his leg around it to snuggle even closer. Lovino squirmed and writhed, till he finally removed himself from Feliciano's iron-grip, and jumped out of the bed and flopped onto Feliciano's.

"I would greatly recommend that you do not snuggle with me otherwise you may risk losing what small balls you have," Lovino said, curling up into a small ball and pressing himself to the wall as closely as he could. Feliciano gave a laugh, and walked over to his bed. Lightly ruffling his brother's hair and pulling the covers over Lovino's body, Feliciano wished his brother a good night and shut the lights off, encompassing them in darkness.

Lovino thought that night about what the hell happened at dinner. He thought about how when he was imagining a life with Lili, he felt no attachment whatsoever. He thought about how when he shifted his thoughts to Antonio, his stomach became a condominium for butterflies. He thought about the fact that clearly there was something incredibly wrong about him. Grandpa has told him and his brother time and time again: women are the best creatures on the planet to love, and it should always be that way.

_So why don't I feel that way around women?_ Lovino wondered. _I mean sure, I flirt with the ladies, and I kiss them and make out and shit, but it's never love. I'm 18 shouldn't I be trying to fall in love and get married? I mean grandpa was totally all for it, so why am I not?_

Lovino sighed, and lightly ran his fingers through his hair. _More importantly, why the fuck am I feeling what I should for ladies, for Antonio, of all the people in this god damned world, mother fucking Antonio, whose practically my brother? I mean really, why him?_

Lovino stared up at the ceiling, listening to the soft snores that Feliciano made as he fell into sleep. He punched his pillow, trying to shift his thoughts away from the path he was on, but Lovino's brains enjoy intentionally screwing him over, as they have done so many a times when he thinks. He continued to think about Antonio. He thought about how he is the most sickeningly sweet and sunniest person he has ever met besides his brother. He thought about how Antonio was so incredibly optimistic, compared to Lovino's own pessimistic outlook. He thought about how Antonio always smiled, and how when he was smiling Lovino's stomach did backflips. He thought about how nice his eyes were, and how when Antonio smiled, the corners of those eyes crinkled in such an endearing way. He thought about the way Antonio's lip curled up ever so slightly when he made an incredibly intelligent comeback, and how when he laughed the whole world laughed along with him. He thought of Antonio, and Lovino couldn't help but start to smile.

Then he punched the wall to feel manly again, forced his brain to count sheep like a five-year old, and fell asleep.

* * *

AN: haahaha remember when I said I will be uploading more? ha, camp said screw you.

Totally forgot I had summer camp to go to Im sorry TT^TT. But yeah here's the next chapter, all squishy and dorky wowow. In the next chapter, expect more Antonio and a bit of Gilbert, Lili, Feli, and Ludwig. yupyup

thank you for reading! please review and leave a comment or suggestion for future chapters if it tickles your fancy and what not. :D


	8. Assistance

CHAPTER 8: Assistance

Antonio flopped down onto the Beischmidt's unusually stiff couch with a grand sigh and sank into the folds of cushions. Reaching over his best friend Gilbert, he yanked the remote off the incredibly polished coffee table and turned the television on, angrily mashing the buttons till he found the soccer channel. As soon as he found the game, he tossed the remote onto Gilbert's lap, and wriggled around to shove his face into Gilbert's shoulder, letting out a large moan. Gilbert, unperturbed, turned the volume up and leaned back into the couch.

"Giiiil," Antonio whined, nuzzling into the albino rather roughly, causing him to wince, "what's going on I don't get it. I need your advice, amigo."

Gilbert sighed, and pushed Antonio off his shoulder. "Dude it's plainly obvious. You're just pretty oblivious. To basically everything. I know I've said this many times, but fuck man how do you manage to survive in this world I swear, everything just flies right over your damned head!"

Antonio pouted, then stood up and began pacing around the living room. "I don't get it Gil! Do I have some sort of magical tumor that only appears around him? Is he a witch, or some other magical fiend?" Antonio suddenly stopped, gasping and clutching his heart. "Aye, dios mio, what if he IS a witch! He's going to steal my soul and sell it to the devil all because I can't stop thinking about him! Gil, you must help me exorcise him. How does one rid oneself of a witch?"

Gilbert gave Antonio an incredulous look, then rolling his eyes gestured for Antonio to sit back down on the couch. "Dude, for one thing, Witches don't exist. You watch too many horror films man. Secondly, you don't exorcise a witch, you kill it. And while I know you are one creepy bastard underneath all that sun, or whatever, there's no way you would kill him. Thirdly, calm your tits man. You're just infatuated."

"Infatuated?" Antonio asked, cocking his head to the side.

Gilbert groaned. "You're a goddamned five year old I swear. Infatuated! The act of wanting to kiss the guy sens-"

Antonio smacked Gilbert on the back of the head. "I know what infatuated means, Gil. I'm just confused as to why you would suggest that. He's my brother, I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

"I don't think so. You're not actually related, right? You're an orchard baby, and he's human." Gilbert snickered, and swatted away Antonio's angry fist.

"But still, if we were to get married, the court wouldn't accept that would it?"

"Dude, slow the fuck down! Marriage, Jesus Christ. Rome didn't properly adopt you, right? You still have your last name and stuff, so I'm pretty sure it's cool. Maybe. HEY LUDDY?" Gilbert shouted up to his brother. Ludwig lightly jogged downstairs, never being one to shout from room to room.

"Yes, Gilbert?" Ludwig said, stopping on the third step from the bottom.

"If Antonio wanted to marry Lovino, would that be illegal?" Antonio flushed bright red, and whirled around to whack Gilbert in the face. However, Gilbert was too quick, and chuckling, dashed behind his brother, who was looking at Antonio curiously.

"You feel enamored for Lovino? I'm not entirely sure, but since you and Lovino are above the age of 18, there is a possibility-"

"Ludwig, no you misunderstand. Your brother was just being a little shit, I'm not, er, 'enamored' for Lovino as you put it." Antonio rubbed the back of his head and glared at Gilbert, who let out a booming guffaw and hopped over to Antonio.

"Man, you are so far in the closet for this kid, you're in Narnia." Antonio took another swipe at Gilbert, who ducked away just in time, again, and danced away into the kitchen. Antonio sighed, and pinched the bridges of his nose. Ludwig nodded to no one in particular, and lightly jogged up the stairs to his room.

Antonio returned to the couch, this time lying across the length of it. He shoved his face into his hands. There's no way I'm in love with Lovi. There's just no way. Besides, Lovi definitely doesn't think of me that way, nor probably ever will. And then there's Grandpa Roma. Antonio shuddered, thinking back to the day he first met Grandpa Rome, remembering the threat of castration if he "soiled his grandsons".

Smacking his head as if to rid himself of the memory, he sat up just in time to see Gilbert returning with two beers in a can. Tossing one to Antonio, who fumbled to catch it and screeching about it exploding in his face, Gilbert laughed and jumped onto the couch, propping his feet up on Antonio's lap. Huffing, Antonio shoved Gilbert's feet to the floor and cracked open his beer slowly, gauging the safety of the can by the fizzing noise and successfully popping the tab. Smiling, Antonio took a swig, only to choke as he remembered he hated beer. Gilbert laughed and took the beer out of Antonio's hand.

"Works every time man, you gotta remember you can't handle your alcohol." Gilbert chugged down his beer, letting out a hiss of breath and slamming the nearly empty can on the table. "Back onto our previous topic, you are absolutely in love with Lovino Vargas, and that is a fact, you understand me?"

Antonio let out another sigh, rubbed his eyes with his hands. "I don't know, Gil. I swear I haven't felt like this ever!"

"Well, it's plainly obvious you are at least bisexual, so that doesn't really account into this. You have told me on numerous occasions that you cannot stop thinking about him-"

"On the grounds that he is a supernatural being out to take my soul!" Antonio interrupted.

Gilbert coughed, and continued on. "But he obviously isn't. So there is no other choice left but romantic intentions. Let's see here..." Gilbert paused and tapped his chin with his finger tips. "What do you like about Lovino?"

"Oh well that's an easy question! I like the way he knows his boundaries and what he can deal with in a day. I like how incredibly intelligent he is, how loyal he is, and how he shows his affection in the smallest of ways so you have to look for it but when you find it, you see how much effort he puts into it. I love how clumsy he is, and how he always tries to cover up when he falls and how the tips of his ears turn red when he lies. I love how confident he seems with himself, and how witty he is. I love how you have to earn his respect, and when you do earn it you know. I love how adorably stubborn he is when arguing. I love how when he laughs or smiles, it's entirely genuine, because he doesn't waste genuine smiles on fake things. I love him"

Gilbert stared at Antonio, wide-eyed, and whistled. "Well damn man, that's pretty much your answer right there. You admitted it out right. Plus you went on and said things about him I never noticed, and him and I are actually good friends."

Antonio slowly blinked as he took in the weight of what he just said. "I said I love him. Present tense and everything. I love him? I love Lovino? Holy shit I love him."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what you just said. Good job man you can hear yourself speak! How have you not gone insane yet?"

"I LOVE LOVINO VARGAS!" Antonio shouted, jumping up from the couch and pacing around the living room, scratching his head vigorously.

"AND I'M GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT!" Gilbert shouted back.

"Congratulations, you have stated the obvious. Now sit back on this couch so we can talk about a plan to get you some hot italian ass"

Antonio stopped in his pacing and hung his head low. "Well that's not going to happen. Lovino loves someone else."

"What the fuck do you mean he likes someone else? Who?" Gilbert asked.

"Lili. He pretty much made it obvious the other day. He's straight, and in love with Lili, and not me. Of course, if Lili and him do end up falling in love with each other, I would be so happy for them because Lili is a wonderful woman and would be great for Lovi, and all I want is for Lovi to be happy, and Gilbert why are you laughing"

Gilbert had fallen into spasms of laughter and was lying on the floor, covering his reddening face with his hands. "Toni, oh my god. You- fuck I can't breathe! Jesus okay, hold up" Gilbert calmed himself down, then continued. "Okay you don't have to worry about Lili and Lovino getting together. First of all, Lili is already in a very steady relationship with someone. A girl by the name of Bella." Gilbert clapped Antonio on the back. "Lovino doesn't really have a chance with Lili, she's totally already taken."

"Oh. Well I mean that works. Okay. But that means nothing about Lovi returning my feelings. And I don't want to force that kind of thing, I want them returned."

"Crossing off my plans for crafting a love potion then." Gilbert chuckled, then stopped as he saw Antonio's face. "Alright, I was kidding, don't get so grumpy. All that you can do really is just show in any way that you love him. Maybe some old fashioned flirting is in order? Or you can be that huge dork I know you are and leave flowers or some shit at his bedroom door or something"

Antonio's face lit up at the idea of flowers and bounced up and down. "Gilbert you are honestly the best friend I've ever had, you are the greatest! I'm off to get Lovi flowers now, bye!" Antonio quickly gave Gilbert a crushing bear hug, and made to dash out the door. However, Gilbert grabbed Antonio's arm and yanked him back.

"You can't just do that you moron! He's probably going to think its from his Grandpa or some shit. You gotta make a plan for this." Gilbert tried to pull Antonio back to the couch, but he just kept heading towards the door.

"I can sign my name on it! Then he knows its from me! Now please, Gil, I need to go buy flowers."

"Dude, sit the fuck down." Gilbert yanked as hard as he could and practically threw a surprised Antonio back onto the couch. "You are really going to sign your name on a bunch of flowers and leave it on Lovino's doorstep, do you know how awkward that's gonna make it for the both of you?"

Antonio blanched as he realised how incredibly moronic he was being, and groaned into his palms. "Wow I'm stupid. Thanks for stopping me I would have made a fool out of myself."

"No Antonio, you wouldn't have made a fool out of yourself. You would have just said your feelings outright, like you normally do, without any hesitation." Gilbert slowly rubbed Antonio's back. "You have the wonderful ability to do that whenever you please, and that's great when you're talking about your passion for food or sleeping or whatever. But with love, you gotta take your time man. Like my wise, yet slightly annoying french friend once said, "Love should never be forced on anyone!" or something like that, he was always weird."

"He doesn't sound too weird if he says things like that. He seems rather intelligent."

"Well most of the time he's weird, just trust me on this man. Anyways, back to planning. Actually, no planning is stupid you can't plan love. What am I thinking. Dude just, I don't know," Gilbert ran his fingers through his hair exasperatedly, "Just go about your days normally I guess. Just flirt with him, see if he flirts back. But hey, you definitely should tell him at some point because bottling that shit up is like a fucking volcano."

"Alright, that sounds more like something I can do! I've never been good at following plans anyways." Antonio said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Gilbert clapped Antonio on his back, and led him up from the couch to the front door. "Alright man, now I need you to get out of my house. Dinner is in ten, and you need to go and flirt with a grumpy italian boy. Go get him, Toni! Knock him dead with your devastatingly good looks and ass, because that's really all you got going for you man, good luck."

"Love you too Gil! Thanks for all your help. Adios, amigo." Antonio waved goodbye and stepped out the Beilschmidt's front door and started the short jog back to his house. Gilbert watched Antonio leave from the living room window till he was out of sight, then flopped back onto his couch and flipped the channel till he found "Pretty Little Liars", his favorite show that he knew Antonio would never let him live down if he found out he watched it.

"Man, he really has it bad, the poor kid. Well, it's pretty much down to him, in the long run." Gilbert picked up Antonio's abandoned beer from the coffee table and raised it in a toast. "Here's to you man! Wish you the best of luck." As he downed the lukewarm beer, Gilbert heard the thump thump noise of someone dashing down the stairs.

Funny, no one ever jogs down the stairs in this family except me. Gilbert thought. As he was taking his last sip, he saw the wisps of brunette hair tumble down the staircase and stop in the living room.

"Antonio's in love with my brother?" Feliciano gasped, causing Gilbert to spit out his beer.

"Feli, what the-" Gilbert gasped for breath, as he remembered that Feliciano had come over to spend the day with Ludwig. "Oh fuck, you heard everything didn't you."

Feliciano danced around in a small circle, then went over and hugged Gilbert awkwardly on the couch.

"Yes I did, and oh gosh I am glad I did! I'm so happy for Tonio, him and Lovi are perfect!"

Well, Gilbert thought, that works.

* * *

AN: Aaaaand I am back again woohoo. Yeah sorry, I'm terrible at updating ^.^;

Yes the french friend is France. I wanted him in here somehow, and thats how it is basically.

Thank you to all readers!


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